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Success Secrets Of The World’s Most Powerful Women

by Lovely Haitian on July 19, 2014

How can women cultivate career success? How did some of the world’s most powerful women manage to progress in their careers while also enjoying life outside of work? These are some of many questions I’ve been grappling with lately, thanks to a very exciting invitation to keynote the eleventh annual Sustaining Women in Business (SWB) conference in Melbourne, Australia. The event brings together 400 executive women and men from the corporate and government worlds to consider, learn and discuss how they can thrive professionally and personally. Here’s what I shared with them on Oct. 24 at the Melbourne Convention Center.

Good morning. It is such a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today. And let me tell you, it took some effort. I got on a plane in New York City on Sunday and by some magic of time zones arrived here in Australia on a Tuesday. I think on the return trip, I’ll actually travel backwards in time.

But it’s genuinely a privilege to be in a room with such talented and ambitious women and to share the tidbits I’ve learned in my years at Forbes magazine researching and writing about women’s leadership. My work has allowed me to meet incredible women at all levels of their careers: Those just starting out, filled with both fear and unbridled possibility; those who’ve found some success and are trying not only to sustain it but also kick it into the next gear; and those at the very top, from self-made billionaires to heads of state and major corporate players.

These women traveled different paths—some climbing the traditional corporate ladder, some zigzagging upwards by jumping between companies, some by starting and running their own businesses. No matter the course, there’s always one constant: Each cultivated her own success. Today we must all be entrepreneurs. Whether in or outside the corporate world, each of us must be responsible for our success, champions of our ideas and landscapers of our careers.

Great careers are no longer passed down or handed over. They must be seeded, tended and grown—and you are the gardener. When women take their success into their own hands, when they take ownership of their achievements, development and ambition, there is no limit to what they can accomplish.

Before I go further, I’d like to acknowledge the men here today. I want you to know that everything I’ll say applies to you as well. Because we know that women don’t become successful alone. They need the support of the men in their lives—as fathers, partners, peers and mentors. We all need to recognize and nurture female talent. So thank you for your support.

Around the world, women are breaking new ground in business. This year, for the first time in history, 20 female CEOs were installed in the 500 largest U.S. corporations. Here in Australia, women now hold 45% of all managerial and professional positions, and there are a growing number of women on major company boards, inching over 8% here and an incredible 40% in Norway.

They are also leading governments. There are now 14 democratically elected female heads of state, including your very own Julia Gillard. A century ago women were fighting for the right to vote. Today, the fate of Europe rests in the hands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Meanwhile, Brazil president Dilma Rousseff leads the world’s sixth biggest economy and will host the next World Cup and the next summer Olympics. These women are shaping our world—while also facing the intense pressure of being the first.

When I interviewed her, I asked Laura Chinchilla, the president of Costa Rica: What does it feel like to be elected your nation’s first-ever female president? “This is not a normal obligation,” she said. “You not only have to do it well, because leading a country is something quite important, but also because I am the first woman I have to do it the best possible way so my country can continue voting for women in the future. It is a big responsibility,” she told me.

But each new first sows the ground for the next generation. Our generation. We are the women rising—and we will be a force to reckon with. While institutions of higher learning were once the domains of men, women are now the majority of global graduates, earning 58% of the world’s college degrees. And in an economy in turmoil, women dominate growing industries—fields like health-care, education and personal services—and are responsible for starting two out of every five small businesses.